Texting inbox

The texting inbox collects the texts people send to your church’s texting number, one conversation per person. You can see who wrote, answer them, keep track of what still needs a response, protect pastoral conversations, and add newcomers to your people.

How to use it

1. In the staff dashboard, open Communications, then the Inbox tab. The number next to Communications and Inbox is how many conversations have a text nobody has opened yet.
2. Use Show to choose what you see: All, Unread, Handled or Opt-outs. The newest conversations come first, with the last text in each. Choose Show more to see older ones, 50 at a time.
3. Choose a conversation to read it. You see what they sent and what the church sent them, in order. Texts from the church are labeled Campaign (a text sent to a group of people) or Answer (a reply from the inbox), with how each one went: Sending, Sent, Delivered, Failed or Not sent.
4. To answer, type under Your answer and choose Send. See “Answering” below.
5. When nothing more needs doing, choose Mark handled. To bring it back, choose Open again. If the person texts again, the conversation opens again on its own.
6. If a conversation is personal or pastoral (a prayer request, a family matter), choose Mark confidential. See “Confidential conversations” below before you do.
7. If the conversation says Unknown number, the sender matches nobody in your church. Choose Add this person, enter a First name and Last name, and choose Add and link. HoW creates their record, saves the number they texted from as their main phone, and puts the conversation on their record.
8. On a phone you see one side at a time. Choose Back to conversations to return to the list.

New texts appear on their own, within about half a minute. You don’t need to refresh the page.

Answering

Replies are sent within a minute. Your answer appears in the conversation straight away as Sending, then Sent once it leaves your church’s number, then Delivered when their phone has it. If it can’t be delivered it says Failed, with the reason the carrier gave. You don’t need to refresh the page: the conversation updates itself every few seconds while an answer is on its way.

Every answer is sent from your church’s texting number, with a line at the end saying how to stop, as every text from HoW is. HoW answers on the number they texted from when that number is on their record, otherwise on their main mobile number.

HoW checks again at the moment it sends. If, between your Send and that moment, they replied STOP, their record stopped saying yes to texts, or texting was turned off for your church, the answer is not sent. It shows Not sent with the reason, for example “They replied STOP or no longer agree to texts, so it wasn’t sent.”

If the carrier or Twilio is busy, HoW tries again by itself, a few times over about 25 minutes, before it says Failed. Very rarely, sending is interrupted at the moment the text leaves; HoW then never sends it a second time, and the answer says “Sending was interrupted, so it may not have arrived.” Check with the person before sending it again.

Who can be answered

The Your answer box is always there, but you can type in it only when HoW is allowed to text that person. When it isn’t, the box and Send are turned off, a You can’t answer yet note above them says what is missing, and the line under Your answer says how it gets fixed:

What the note says	Why	How it gets fixed
“This number matches nobody in your church.”	An unknown number.	Choose Add this person, then record their agreement to texts on their record.
“… replied STOP, so they can’t be texted.”	Their last text was STOP (or another stop word).	They text START to your church’s number. Staff can’t undo a STOP for them, even with Opt in on their record.
“… has opted out of texts (their record says no to texts) …”	Their record says no to texts.	Only their own new agreement: when they tell you they want texts, choose Opt in beside Text messages.
“… can’t be texted from here: they haven’t agreed to texts …”	They never agreed to texts, or they are a child. HoW never texts a child.	If they’ve told you they want texts, open them in People and choose Opt in beside Text messages.

Texting the church is not the same as agreeing to be texted. If someone tells you they want texts from the church, record their agreement on their record.

Confidential conversations

Some texts are not for every staff member’s eyes. Mark confidential limits a conversation, its texts and its answers to people with confidential care access: owners and administrators, and anyone your church gives the confidential care extra in a custom role. It is the same rule as a confidential care request.

• Anyone who can read a conversation can mark it. Only people with confidential care access can choose Remove confidential.
• If you don’t have confidential care access, marking a conversation hides it from you at once, and you can’t undo it. HoW asks you to confirm first. Afterwards the screen says “Marked confidential. Only people with care access can read it now.”
• The first person to open a text reads it before anyone can mark it. Marking protects the conversation from then on.
• The words of a confidential conversation are not copied into the person’s activity history.

Good to know

• Who can use the inbox. Owners, administrators and communications managers. In a custom role, the Communications area at the Manage level includes the inbox. Other staff don’t see the Inbox tab.
• Who can add people. Add this person appears only for staff who can create and edit people. Of the built-in roles that use the inbox, that is owners and administrators. Communications managers see the conversation but not the button.
• Children. A conversation with a child is shown only to staff who can see children’s records. A child is never texted, from the inbox or anywhere else in HoW.
• Shared, not per person. Unread and handled are the same for everyone on your staff. When one person opens a conversation, it is read for everyone.
• Stop words. A text that is only STOP (or STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, OPTOUT, REVOKE or ARRET) stops all texts to that person at once. The text is marked Stopped texts. A sentence that happens to contain one of those words, such as “Stop by at 5?”, is not an opt-out. Only the person’s own new agreement, recorded on their record, lets the church text them again.
• Unknown numbers are kept for 30 days. HoW keeps an unknown sender’s number for 30 days so you can add them. After that, HoW keeps only a scrambled fingerprint of the number, enough to keep their texts in one conversation but not the number itself. If you add the person after 30 days, the dialog says the number is no longer kept, and you can type it on their record yourself.
• Someone who texted STOP from an unknown number can still be added to your people, but cannot be texted until they agree again.
• Two people adding the same sender. If a colleague adds the person first, HoW says “Someone has already added this person” and doesn’t create a second record.
• Only texts. Replies to your church’s emails go to the email address the email was sent from, not to this inbox.
• Texting must be set up. The inbox receives texts sent to your church’s texting number, which DCX Logic sets up for you.

If something isn’t right

• I don’t see the Inbox tab. Your role doesn’t include the inbox. Ask an owner or administrator.
• A conversation I was reading disappeared. Someone marked it confidential, or it is with a child, and you don’t have access to those. The screen says “This conversation is no longer available to you.”
• My answer says Failed. The carrier or Twilio refused it, and the reason is shown under it. A number that can’t receive texts (a landline, or one no longer in use) is the usual cause. Check the number on their record.
• My answer says Not sent. HoW checked again when sending and was no longer allowed to text them; the reason is shown under it.
• My answer has said Sending for more than a few minutes. Twilio was busy and HoW is trying again. If it still hasn’t gone after about half an hour, contact DCX support.
• Someone already in our people shows as Unknown number. They texted from a number that isn’t on their record. Add that number to their record in People; their next text then shows under their name. Choosing Add this person would create a second record for them.
• Adding a person failed part-way. Choose Add and link again. HoW carries on with the record it already made instead of creating a second one. Correct the name on their record afterwards if needed.

What DCX support can do

With your permission, DCX support can open a support session on your church to look at the inbox with you. Reading your texts needs your approval by name when you start the session; support does not see your conversations otherwise. Confidential conversations and conversations with children stay hidden unless you approve those too. Support can also check that your church’s texting number is set up and receiving texts.

How this compares with Planning Center

If you’re coming from Planning Center:

• Planning Center’s own texting doesn’t receive replies. Texts sent from People go out one way. Planning Center’s help center says “Replies are not received”: a reply is discarded, and the sender gets a text saying the number can’t receive replies. HoW keeps every reply and shows it in the inbox.
• Two-way texting in Planning Center comes from a partner. Churches that want conversations connect Clearstream or Text In Church, a separate account, and read replies in that service’s own inbox or app. In HoW the inbox is part of the same place as your people, so a conversation sits next to the person’s record.
• Same idea as Clearstream’s inbox: conversations are Unread, Open or Done there; in HoW they are Unread or Handled, and a new text opens a handled conversation again.
• Answering: as in Clearstream’s inbox, you answer from the conversation and see whether each answer was delivered.
• Not in HoW yet: searching conversations, and acting on many conversations at once. Clearstream’s inbox has search, bulk actions and scheduled replies.
• Opting out: in Planning Center, people text STOP to unsubscribe and START to subscribe again. In HoW, STOP works the same way, but texting the church again doesn’t restart texts: their agreement is recorded on their record.
• Confidential conversations: HoW can limit a single conversation to people with confidential care access, the way Planning Center limits private note categories to chosen people.
• Planning Center Chat is something else: it is in-app messaging between members of a group or team, not text messages to your church’s number.